Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hot Stuff

At only twelve years old, my son Alex is hot stuff. So I knit him gloves to suit his personality.

I used the chart from the Hot Rod Socks AKA Olympic Flame socks for the flames. The rest was just designed on the needles. Alex was a very good sport and put up with me shoving a partially knit glove on his hand over and over again. He even put down the video game to try them on!

Pattern: my own - 64 sts around, with an offset thumb.
Yarn: various sock yarns
Needles: 2.50 mm

Alex took the plunge this year and joined Air Cadets. He was enthralled with the idea since he was ten and had every intention of joining when he turned twelve. But when it actually came time to show up, he got cold feet. Jim and I gave him a parental push and made him join, with the caveat that he could leave if he wanted to in January. So far, he seems to be enjoying it.

In September he went away for an entire weekend for survival training and survived. So did we. The only thing that worried me about the survival weekend was not being able to contact him if I wanted to. I'd never been in that situation with one of my children before. Last week he got his uniform and on Sunday he put it on for the first time to participate in tag day, which is a fund raiser for the cadets.

I can't describe the mix of feelings I have over seeing my son in uniform. Pride, respect, worry, all tinged with a rush of mother love. I'm beginning to think that raising teenagers is going to be the hardest part of this whole parenting gig.

10 comments:

  1. Coolest gloves!

    Before becoming a sock knitter (long before) I was an air cadet for a few years. Shooting guns and flying in cargo planes with open doors were great. The whole 'taking orders' thing was another matter ;o)

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  2. I can't believe that he's 12 already. Last year you were mentioning Cadet's and my daughter wanted to get involved. She's a sea cadet LC (Leading Cadet). It was the best thing I ever did for her, it has given her such a self esteem boost that she really needed. I have never seen her more focused or committed to something in her life. I hope your son enjoys it as much. There are so many opportunities for them.

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  3. The gloves turned out awesome! You're an awesome mum!!

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  4. First -- coolest gloves ever.

    Second -- your son is so handsome and looking so grown up. It must be so wonderfully secure to have you and Jim as parents if he can overcome his fears and do something as amazing as the survivial weekend.

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  5. Anonymous11:48 am

    The gloves are great! Seeing your son in his cadet uniform brought back a rush of memeories from when my two older boys were in Air Cadets. It is a very good program!

    kristieinbc

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  6. ::sniff:: What a cutie!

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  7. Thoroughly impressed, first with the Cadet -- wow!

    And such gloves. Beautiful work. All his friends are going to want gloves just like those.

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  8. Anonymous10:41 am

    Those gloves looks great! That young man looks very handsome in that uniform. Wow, they grow up so quickly

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  9. Guys in uniforms look great, no matter what the age, unless it's one that belongs to a fast food restaurant. I just made a hat to match those flaming hot gloves. Check them out on ravelry, now that you found me on there.

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  10. I can't tell you how awesome these are. When they were being passed around at FCK, as always I was stunned by the craft-woman-ship that you've put into them.

    If you're not doing anything. . .feel free to write it up baby! Or better yet, make ME a pair! ;)

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